[Funding alert] Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone announces investment in Kerala startup, Sieve

Twitter Co-founder and angel investor Christopher Issac 'Biz' Stone, on Friday announced that he will be investing in Kochi-based startup, Sieve. The announcement was made over a video-conference at the second edition of Kerala Startup Mission's event - Huddle 2019, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. While it is the first major initiative in the state, the funding amount remained undisclosed.

The Kochi-based startup is founded by Sanjay Nediyara, a hearing-impaired entrepreneur.

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Over the video conference, Stone said:

"I have used the product of Sieve as a freelancer. As an angel, I consider the person first and the product second. I find Sanjay as a dedicated, empathetic and extremely hardworking individual.”

Seive is a platform for freelancers and agencies, that provides infrastructure in the form of websites, digital signatures, invoicing and payment management. Currently serving in the US, Sieve will soon expand its services to the European market.

"Our larger vision is to build truly Internet companies in the cloud where people can form companies and work from anywhere in the world," Seive's founder said.

Sieve's other investors include Friends of Oorjja, an ecosystem empowering the differently-abled community; and Otis Elevators. Friends of Oorjja consists of senior professionals from the banking finance industry.

Nediyara was previously selected as one of Forbes' fellows in 2018. He has also been awarded the Reach Award, instituted by Eric Weihenmayer Foundation in the USA. Nediyara has also been previously invited by Google to attend its conference - Google IO.

Earlier on Friday, social media major Facebook announced that it was planning to invest in tech startups in the country.

Last month, Bengaluru-based regional language social media platform - ShareChat, raised $100 million in its Series D round of funding from Twitter and TrustBridge Partners. This is not the first time when Twitter had made an investment in an Indian company.

In January 2015, it acquired ZipDial, a Bengaluru-based company that developed an innovative platform that turns missed calls into mobile marketing and analytics product. While the amount was undisclosed, according to reports, the transaction was estimated between $40 and $50 million. 

(Edited by Suman Singh)

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